In 2025, fire departments serving Valparaiso responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $85K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
35 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $367K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 6 | -14.3% | |
| 2025 | 17 | +183.3% |
* Well below Valparaiso's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 0 building fires Valparaiso departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Wall assembly | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 6.2% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Valparaiso mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 56.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Valparaiso departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $85,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Valparaiso sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,101 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 13.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Smoking | 700 | 6.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 443 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Smoking | 320 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 300 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 280 | 11.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 220 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 169 | 33.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 68065 | 35 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Valparaiso. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Valparaiso.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.